KAMPALA – MultiChoice Uganda has celebrated the 3rd Anniversary of its home-grown channel Pearl Magic which officially launched in Uganda in October 2018.
The channel whose content is majorly locally sourced has over its 3-year journey given filmmakers in the country a platform to showcase their work. Pearl Magic channel 148 has over time attracted quite the viewership and praise from the Ugandan audience.
While speaking at the anniversary celebration via Twitter spaces, Joan Semanda Kizza, the PR, and Communications Manager, MultiChoice Uganda said, “The introduction of Pearl Magic into the Ugandan market was vital in our bid to strengthen telling the African story. Through this channel, we have managed to boost the film industry with the platform created and available for Ugandan filmmakers and producers.”
“Through Pearl Magic shows like Mizigo Express, The Honourables, Campus Life, have gotten viewership across the continent showing that indeed the Ugandan talent is quite promising,” Joan noted.
She further highlighted the various qualifiers that MultiChoice considers to take on films. Her emphasis was on the quality of the film and the fact that it has to be crafted specifically for the Ugandan audience. She went on to add that there is an opportunity for films that are struggling with viewership to get an audience once selected.
MultiChoice Uganda has over the years supported and brought to life appealing content that educates its viewers, showing that indeed their mandate to provide quality entertainment is key.
The interactive session saw members of the public and subscribers of Pearl Magic actively interact while making inquiries on issues pertaining mostly to the film industry. One of the issues tackled by the MultiChoice team was on how best filmmakers can earn from their films.
In a detailed explanation, Catherine Mumbi the Commissioning Editor MNet highlighted two key avenues with which content received is differentiated. These are through licensing and commissioning. She informed filmmakers and producers that licensed content is when Multichoice owns a film for a period of time before it is given back to its owners, throughout this period, film owners are paid. Commissioning on the other hand is when MultiChoice avails filmmakers with resources to make the film, in this scenario, MultiChoice owns the rights to this particular film.
In addition to the celebration, the public was informed about the introduction of Chapterz on Pearl Magic as well as Mizigo Express’s 20th season as well as Our Perfect wedding which will air in November.
Present in the live session were content creators, movie enthusiasts, filmmakers, and producers all of whom showed excitement towards the anniversary of a channel that revived film in Uganda.
During the anniversary celebrations, poets Irene Mutuzo aka Noisey, and Mugoda Gordons aka Wake captured the live audience through their poems showing how far the channel has vividly pushed its agenda to tell authentic Ugandan stories.
